Oklahoma was strongly socialist when founded

[TheWizardOfMudd]

The original Oklahoma Constitution forbade the very existence of corporations in the state. What has happened to people? Why are so many laying down to be trampled by Bush and powerful corporations. I'm totally disgusted. Check this book review:

"Agrarian Socialism in America
Marx, Jefferson, and Jesus in the Oklahoma Countryside, 1904-1920
by Jim Bissett

Why was Oklahoma, of all places, more hospitable to socialism than any other state in America? In this provocative book, Jim Bissett chronicles the rise and fall of the Socialist Party of Oklahoma during the first two decades of the twentieth century, when socialism in the United States enjoyed its golden age.


To explain socialism’s popularity in Oklahoma, Bissett looks back to the state’s strong tradition of agrarian reform. Drawing most of its support from working farmers, the Socialist Party of Oklahoma was rooted in such well-established organizations as the Farmers Alliance and the Indiahoma Farmers’ Union. And to broaden its appeal, the Party borrowed from the ideology both of the American Revolution and of Christianity. By making Marxism speak in American terms, the author argues, Party activists counteracted the prevailing notion that socialism was illegitimate or un-American.


“… a carefully researched and passionately written book.” American Historical Review


“…a compelling and provocative interpretation of both the practical experience and the intellectual underpinnings that united to create a unique form of agrarian socialism.” Agricultural History"

http://www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=0-8061-3148-9

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Well, that certainly explains the political birthright of Woody Guthrie

[bobthedrummer]

2. My hometown, Milwaukee, had two Socialist mayors.

We had Frank Ziedler as Mayor when I was a kid-it was very good then, particularly noted for clean government.